


Welcome Home

by Bensoloscalligraphyset



Category: Star Wars, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Drabble, F/M, Force ghost luke mention, Movie: Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Oneshot, Post-Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Redeemed Ben Solo, Star Wars: The Last Jedi Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-16
Updated: 2018-03-16
Packaged: 2019-04-01 04:28:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,176
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13990473
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bensoloscalligraphyset/pseuds/Bensoloscalligraphyset
Summary: A mysterious figure arrives on Ahch-to, interrupting Rey's communion with the Force. An ally provided by the Force to defeat the foes of the Resistance.





	Welcome Home

Rey felt a prick on her neck. The Force balance on the island on Ahch-to, where she now lived in between missions for the resistance, had become a comforting presence to her. Almost like that of an old friend or teacher. She connected to it so often that it now happened without conscious effort, a quiet whisper in the back of her mind.

But something had changed. Someone was coming. Someone with a strong force ability had just broken through the ancient planet’s atmosphere in a beaten up ship. She could feel their mind reaching out to explore the planet with curious, calm tendrils of thought.

“Who could it be?” She muttered to herself quietly. Maybe the resistance had sent along another Force sensitive, a padawan for her to train? But she could tell somehow that the mind she’d accidentally bumped into was skilled. And alone. So this couldn’t be a youngling.

Maybe it was Leia? But she knew how Leia’s mind felt. This one had a similar strength to hers, and a similar sorrow. A similar peace. But it wasn’t the same. It had a balance to it, like that of the island she stood upon, with blinding brightness and terrifying depths.

Who is it? She kept wondering, as she sensed the ship coming closer and closer. I should be afraid of another presence so strong coming here unannounced. Maybe they are here to hunt me?

But she knew from her brief brush with that mind that they were no threat. They were full of peace and only sought to bring that peace to others. She started to feel a little excited as she realized she could see the ship heading towards the island with her eyes and not just her mind.

The Force had sent her an ally. She was sure of it. Someone to help her take down the First Order and its new Supreme Leader… She stopped herself at that thought. Thinking of where Ben had been mentally the last time she saw him always put her stomach into painful knots of sadness and apprehension. The look on his face as she closed to door on him and their bond broke her heart every time it flashed before her eyes.

Better not to think about it, she said to herself as she did every time her mind went down this path. Better to trust in the Force that it would guide him to where he needed to be. It was not her duty to save him from the darkness. Nobody could but himself.

The beaten up cargo ship landed next to the Falcon and Rey broke herself out of her reverie. She rushed down the steps as the ships cabin depressurized.

The door opened slowly, so slowly, and Rey stood in front of it with a beaming smile on her face. She saw a figure in traditional long robes, with their hood up. It looked to be a male figure with large shoulders and a broad torso. But, the face was still obscured as the figure took confident, quick steps down the metal gangplank towards her, steps ringing brightly off of the nearby cliff face.

“Hello, I’m Rey!” She announced to the figure coming down towards her, a dazzling smile on her face. She sensed a cheerful amusement in him. She was sure it was a man now. He was only a few feet away.

The mysterious figure reached for his hood and pushed it down. As he did this, he spoke an answer to her greeting.

“I know,” He said as he smiled down at her.

His face and hair were free from their disguise, but Rey was sure that she wasn’t seeing things correctly. A quick reach out to the Force confirmed that there was no illusion before her.

She knew that face. The head of unruly black hair, dark as the night on Ahch-to. The darkest eyes she had ever seen, with depths unfathomable. And a scar over his eye, Ben’s eye, a scar that she had given him on that night in the snow.

“Ben,” she whispered. “Is it really you?” Her eyes were quickly filling with tears. She had seen his mind. She knew he had somehow found a way to heal the wounds that had festered there for so long. She knew he had found the balance that she had come to know so well on this island.

He quickly closed the gap between them, walking off the gangplank and towards her.

“Yes, it’s me.” He reassured her, his smile disappearing. He removed any guard from his mind, inviting her in so she could see the truth. As he did this, he reached out his hand in the universal gesture of goodwill. He wasn’t sure why he did it. To show her he was unarmed? To offer his hand to her as he had so foolishly done on the Supremacy? To mimic the gesture she had made that night by the fire?

Rey swallowed the lump in her throat and reached out into his mind fully this time, seeking some explanation for the restored Ben Solo that stood before her. But she did not take his hand. Not yet.

His memories flooded into her brain, slowly at first, flashes of moments when he was a young child, wanting only to spend more time with his parents. To know they loved him. Then they came more quickly, moments full of pain and fear and confusion and loss. So much that she was brought to her knees.

Ben hurriedly knelt down next to her, watching her with concerned eyes but not touching her yet. He didn’t want to cross any boundaries without her permission. He sought to slow down what he realized was an onslaught of memories flowing from his mind to hers.

Rey began to understand. She realized that the moment she closed the door on him, something inside of him ignited. He had felt a motivation, like he’d never felt before. Something that was worthwhile. Something to live for. And he’d taken that spark and nurtured it, fueled it. He’d left the First Order quietly, in the middle of the night, and never looked back. He’d gone to the outer reaches of the galaxy to find his peace, spoken for days on end with those he’d thought were dead but realized were one with the cosmic force. Had constant realizations and breakthroughs. Until Luke told him that he was ready, that he could find Rey.

She lifted her face towards him slowly, still full of surprise, but beginning to accept what was before her. She leaned into him, putting her head on his chest.

“I… can’t believe it, ” she whispered, her voice thick with emotion.

He smiled, fighting off tears himself.

“Me neither,” he said as he wrapped his arms around her.

Rey beamed as she felt his embrace. She closed her eyes and breathed, feeling the peace inside of him melt into the balace of the island, the galaxy, the universe.

“Welcome home,” she whispered.


End file.
